On eBay Now...~ Oscar Hanks Troy NY Patent Telescopic Bow Circumferentor, only known example ~ For Sale
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~ Oscar Hanks Troy NY Patent Telescopic Bow Circumferentor, only known example ~:
$14500.00
~ A Rare Oscar Hanks Troy NY 1833 Patent Telescopic RR Bow Circumferentor Compass, the only known example ~There are very few truly American designed instruments; the bow instruments are unique to the patentee, Julius and his son Oscar Hanks manufacturers of Troy NY during the mid 19th century.
Both the silvered compass dial, and the telescope are signed by engraving, \"O. Hanks Troy NY.\" The instrument stands an impressive 20\" tall on a lathe-turned stand. The bow is 12\" in diameter and the needle is 5.25\" in length. The button-weighted Hanks needle is a very unique form; the nonius or vernier that is affixed to the end of the needle allows for reading minutes, or portions of a degree.
Of the few Hanks bow instruments I have owned in the past 35 years, this is the only telescopic example with which I am familiar. The telescope is signed, \"Oscar Hanks Troy NY\". The eyepiece tube appears to have been adapted from a london made spyglass with a partial inscription. The telescope swivels on a vertical plane at the center of the bow and there is a small divided plate at the end of the arm that holds the telescope. The bow has neat dovetail repaired crack in the top portion between the telescope yoke thumbscrews.
The instrument is a Railroad or Improved form, where there are double plates and both the needle ring and and the lower plate are divided in 360 degrees. This allows for the recording of angles independent of the needle. The engraved compass plate has two imbedded bubble vials and an opening to expose the lower circle, adjacent to a bevel-cut with a vernier.
Oscar Hanks, a third generation maker in the Hanks family, and son of Julius Hanks, maintained his father\'s patents after the mid 1850s. In Charles Smarts book, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America, 1962, there is further information of the Hanks family as well as Wm Skerritt\'s book, Catalog of the Charles Smart Collection of Antique Surveying Instruments, 1996.
A rare opportunity to acquire a very uncommon American Surveying Instrument.
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